Ranking Score Explained

Hi, thanks for your interest in how we calculate an experience's ranking score. It's at the core of Rankers so I'm pleased you're curious.

The ranking score percentage is used to compare and sort experiences in ranking tables. It is not necessarily a direct measurement of the quality of a particular experience as rated by its customers. I've found it a useful tool to allow me to find the best experiences with confidence. But I've also found it important to read the customer reviews before making any final judgements!

We calculate an experience's ranking score using a multi-factor data model instead of a raw data average (mean). This model takes into account several important questions. For instance - is there a trusted body of reviews? What is the age of a review and is the review from a credible source?

Below you'll find details around some of the important factors that went into calculating the ranking score for Heaphy Track.

If you have any questions or comments about our ranking score calculation please get in touch at info@rankers.co.nz. We don't believe this is perfect or complete so we're always interested in ways we might make improvements.

Cymen Crick's avatar

Cymen Crick

Rankers Owner

Heaphy Track

Valid Reviews

48 Valid Reviews

The Heaphy Track experience has a total of 48 valid reviews. There are no invalid reviews that are excluded from the calculation. Reviews can be excluded only when a reviewer is not verified or after an investigation by our team determines the reviewer is not genuine.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 48 valid reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 22
46%
9/10 12
25%
8/10 10
21%
7/10 3
6%
6/10 0
0%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 1
2%

89.58% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Heaphy Track valid reviews is 89.58% and is based on 48 valid reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here as a comparison to the weighted average.

Face-to-Face Reviews

43 Face-to-Face Reviews

The Rankers team meets with travellers while they’re in New Zealand and conducts face-to-face surveys. These reviews, in our opinion, are the most trusted in the industry and represent a critical control sample. To our knowledge, we are the only travel review website in the world that has gone to this extent.

More about face-to-face reviews

Within the 48 valid reviews, the experience has 43 face-to-face reviews collected during interviews by our team.

Below is the distribution of ratings for the 43 face-to-face reviews:

Rating Count Percentage
10/10 18
42%
9/10 12
28%
8/10 9
21%
7/10 3
7%
6/10 0
0%
5/10 0
0%
4/10 0
0%
3/10 0
0%
2/10 0
0%
1/10 1
2%

88.84% Average

The raw data average (mean) for all the Heaphy Track face-to-face reviews is 88.84% and is based on 43 face-to-face reviews. This value is not used to calculate the ranking score and it only provided here for comparison purposes.

Weighted Average

90.45%

Rankers calculates a weighted mean as a base average on which we can improve. Individual review's ratings are given a weight based on several factors. The weight of a review determines the overall impact it'll have on the final weighted average.

Recent reviews have more weight as they are more relevant and reflect the experience as it currently operates. Over time reviews become less relevant and loose their impact on the ranking score.

Low rating reviews carry slightly less weight. This dampens the effect of very low ratings for every experience across the board. This is especially important when the experience has few reviews overall and a single negative rating can grossly mischaracterise an experience. Consistent poor reviews will still result in the experience receiving a comparitively low ranking score.

Credible sources provide reviews that can be trusted. If we have verified a reviewer is genuine via a face-to-face meeting then the review carries additional weight.

Reviewer Rating Age Relative Weight
Fi 10/10 2863 days 100%
Jonas Neumann 10/10 2877 days 99%
Theresa Flach 9/10 2877 days 98%
Jonathan Maus 10/10 3184 days 79%
Selina 7/10 3191 days 73%
Robin Stamm 8/10 3193 days 77%
Quentin Neulens 10/10 3209 days 77%
Jonathan Maus 8/10 3209 days 76%
Stephanie Pope 9/10 3215 days 76%
Mia Gaynor 10/10 3221 days 76%
Timon Flick 8/10 3227 days 74%
Cosmo Hartuna 9/10 3236 days 75%
Nils Kissel 10/10 3238 days 75%
Fiona and Matthew 8/10 3246 days 73%
Florian Klein 1/10 3882 days 13%
Tina Hilbich 9/10 3912 days 30%
Sanne Meijer 9/10 3913 days 30%
Matt Sidaway 10/10 3976 days 26%
Clara Hayes 8/10 3984 days 25%
Trish Pope 10/10 3993 days 25%
AnnaM 10/10 4264 days 7%
Supiot Zudovic 10/10 4277 days 6%
Wayne Kerr 10/10 4282 days 6%
Ken Milligan 8/10 4282 days 6%
Alessandra 10/10 4284 days 6%
Paul Liecke 9/10 4297 days 5%
Stella Thoben 9/10 4297 days 5%
Karina Gratz 9/10 4299 days 5%
Tobi 10/10 4300 days 5%
Dupont 9/10 4301 days 5%
Bill and Noreen 10/10 4321 days 3%
Hanle 7/10 4370 days 0%
Jessica Marling 9/10 4650 days 33%
Chris 9/10 4683 days 33%
Leander Siegert 7/10 4687 days 31%
Alfred & Henrike 10/10 4714 days 33%
Lydia McLean 10/10 4767 days 33%
Ross Mepham 10/10 4965 days 33%
Lorraine Leonard 10/10 5003 days 33%
Jane Cullum 8/10 5007 days 33%
Patrick Gloede 8/10 5009 days 33%
Daniel Dubach 10/10 5054 days 33%
Amy 9/10 5330 days 33%
Kerry Wood 8/10 5393 days 33%
BenH 10/10 5419 days 33%
rosil 10/10 5725 days 33%
Martina Bumiller 10/10 5730 days 33%
Viktoria Stoffel 8/10 5732 days 33%

Adjustments

No Adjustment

Several adjustments to the weighted average may be added to improve relevancy and credibility. Heaphy Track does not meet the criteria for any of these adjustments to apply.

Balancing Adjustment

0.94% Adjustment

Every experience's review score is adjusted to balance out the disproportional number of negative reviews that are contributed.

You won't be surprised to learn that disgruntled folk are more likely to leave a review than happy ones. They are motivated to share their experience and warn others. We consider this a good thing and it's why reading the reviews is important. However we've learned it can misrepresent the experience in a more overall sense.

We apply a balancing adjustment to counteract this effect and ensure the ranking score is a more fair representation of the experience. This adjustment is applied equally to all experiences.

Final Ranking Score

91%

The final ranking score once any adjustments, ratings, and rounding has been applied. This value is recalculated each day and a short rolling average is applied. Therefore it may not be precisely accurate based on the other values presented.